History
Madeira Orienteering Festival
The Madeira Orienteering Festival emerged in January 2008 within the Funchal Mountain Club with the clear objective of promoting the sport (and its terrain) of Orienteering across borders. This initiative aimed to capture some of the world's best athletes experiencing local terrain while encouraging the technical training of local athletes.
Therefore, the Funchal Mountain Club drafted a scheme that was put into practice between the 23rd and 25th of January 2008, with a total of four stages distributed along the eastern side of the island of Madeira, more precisely in Poiso (1st stage); Caniçal (2nd stage); Queimadas (3rd stage) and Machico (4th stage).
Equipa organizadora do MOF 2009 com o atleta Thierry Gueorgiou
In the following year, the organization of the Clube Montanha do Funchal decided to maintain the same competition scheme, divided into four stages, spread across Fanal (1st stage); Poiso II (2nd stage); Porto da Cruz (3rd stage) and Paúl da Serra (4th stage).
This year the MOF took place between the 28th and 30th of January 2009 and had 150 registered athletes. It should be noted that, curiously, the 4th stage scheduled for Paúl da Serra ended up being canceled for meteorological reasons (snow).
In 2010, four stages were held, spread across Caniçal (1st stage); Machico (2nd stage); Chão da Lagoa (3rd stage) and Santo da Serra (4th stage).
This year the MOF took place between the 26th and 28th of January 2010 and had approximately 100 registered athletes.
After a 5-year break, in 2016, Clube Montanha do Funchal organizes the fourth edition of the Madeira Orienteering Festival, assuming the weekend as the ideal period for holding the event. Therefore, in this year of recovery, it was decided to carry out three stages, all in the area surrounding Poiso.
In 2016, the MOF took place between the 16th and 17th of January and had 81 registered athletes, all of Portuguese nationality.
Number of athletes registered per edition
In 2017, the fifth edition of this event continues with a focus on a new impetus for the national and international nature of the event. Therefore, the strategy of promoting the event among the national and foreign orienteering community was resumed, having collected a total of 154 registered athletes from 6 different nationalities.
This edition took place between the 9th and 12th of February and was characterized by being the only edition (to date) with 5 stages, distributed across Funchal (1st stage); Fanal (2nd stage); Porto Moniz (3rd stage); Poiso I (4th stage) and Poiso II (5th stage).
The sixth edition, in 2018, had a total of 168 registered athletes from 17 different nationalities.
This edition took place between January 25th and 28th and initially had 5 different stages, however one of the stages, in Bica da Cana, was canceled due to snow on the ground. Therefore, the remaining stages were distributed across Porto da Cruz (1st stage); Fanal (2nd stage); São Vicente (3rd stage); Machico (4th stage).
In the 2019 edition, the MOF had a slight decrease in the number of participating athletes in general and consequently in the number of foreign athletes, that is, it had a total of 131 registered athletes from 4 different nationalities.
This edition took place between the 1st and 3rd of February and had four stages distributed by Fanal (1st stage); Queimadas (2nd stage); Machico (3rd stage) and Chão das Feiteiras (4th stage).
After a three-year break, due to the significant impact of the COVID19 pandemic, the MOF returned in 2023 for its eighth edition, with a total of 237 registered athletes from 14 different nationalities.
This edition took place between January 13th and 15th and had three stages spread across Funchal - Bairro da Nazaré (1st stage); Ponta de São Lourenço (2nd stage); Palheiro Golf (3rd stage).
In 2024 the MOF gains a new dynamic, driven by the significant boost of the sport in the regional competitive tables, passing the barrier of 400 athletes for the first time, more precisely with 418 registered athletes from 21 different nationalities.
This edition took place between January 12th and 14th and featured three stages distributed by Palheiro Golf (1st stage); Boa Ventura (2nd stage); Ponta de São Lourenço (3rd stage). It should be noted that the 2nd stage was initially planned to take place in Poiso. However, due to an adverse weather warning for the South Coast and mountainous areas, the organization decided to change, in less than 24 hours, the stage to the north of the island of Madeira, more specifically to the parish of Boa Ventura, which did not have any weather warning notice .
The 2025 edition reinforces the dynamics achieved in the previous year, and counts for the first time on a partnership with the Camacha Sports Association to operationalize one of the stages. This edition had a total of 457 registered athletes from 20 different nationalities.
This edition took place between January 10th and 12th and featured four stages distributed by Palheiro Golf (1st stage); Chão das Feiteiras (2nd stage); Camacha (3rd stage) and Ponta de São Lourenço (4th stage).